Haitian Migration and Circulation in Latin America details the findings of a mixed methods study undertaken by the Haiti-based Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED). The report’s empirical fieldwork, document analysis, ethnography, and policy discussion provide an in-depth understanding and analysis of the history, state, patterns, and contexts of Haitian migration to countries in Latin America, with a particular focus on Brazil and Chile. The study’s overarching themes included migrant decision-making, gender dynamics, and the role of intermediaries. We used a comprehensive, mixed methods approach drawing from diverse data sources about network compositions and migration costs, routes, and movement modalities within and between countries. As the core axiom of our approach, we place people’s experiences at the center of our analysis. Placing Haitians’ multidimensional experiences of migration, their voices and concerns at the core of knowledge production on migration and vulnerabilities, requires an approach that relies on transdisciplinary methodologies, whereby ethnography and other qualitative methods are combined with quantitative modelling, network analysis, and artistic production to generate a more complex understanding of people on the move and their communities. For such a complex mixed methods and multidisciplinary study, we triangulated at three levels: methods, data collections, and analyses, using established perspectives in the social sciences. We further complemented the analysis using survey data of Haitians living in Brazil, collected by the MIDEQ team in Rio de Janeiro, Instituto Maria e João Aleixo (IMJA).
The report is also available in French.